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SINGAPORE: India's top lender, State Bank of India (SBI), wants to expand its footprints in Southeast Asia and it said on Tuesday that countries like Indonesia and Singapore present good growth opportunities.
SBI has six retail branches in Singapore and eight in Indonesia, and it is planning to expand its operations in Southeast Asia quickly.
Om Prakash Bhatt, chairman of SBI, said: "Indonesia's a good market; Indonesia's a good place to do business. Incidentally, the valuations in Indonesia are a little high, but if we're able to get a suitable fit, then we'd be happy to acquire a bank in Indonesia. That is the way we're talking about international acquisitions at this point in time."
India has emerged relatively unscathed from the global financial crisis and SBI has even seen growth in its core businesses.
Mortgage lending grew 24 per cent on-year in June to US$1.2 billion, while corporate lending jumped 37 per cent in June to US$1.5 billion, compared to the same period last year.
Corporate lending grew 37 per cent on-year from US$1.07 billion to US$1.45 billion in June, while home loans increased by 24 per cent on-year in June from US$1.00 billion to US$1.24 billion.
The group has a 25 per cent share of the domestic Indian banking market, with a customer base of over 146 million. Over 70 per cent of large Indian corporates, such as the Tata group and Mittal Steel, are SBI's customers.
With its wealth of experience in corporate financing, the group said it can help businesses in Southeast Asia explore growth opportunities in India.
"There are quite a few services that we offer to foreign banks in India. For example, there are companies from other countries which would want to engage with similar companies in India, either for mergers and acquisitions or joint ventures or for other business synergies," said Mr Bhatt.
"We're able to identify these companies because we've got a merchant bank which we own, so we're able to identify these companies and bring these two companies together to see whether they can work together."
SBI opened its first retail branch in Singapore back in October last year. The bank will be opening its 7th such facility next week.
Mr Bhatt said he sees the huge potential that Singapore has to offer as an important financial centre for this region, and he believes that SBI can help the city-state tap on the many investment opportunities available in the fast-growing Indian market, and vice versa.
- CNA/so
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